Page 48 of The Problem with Fire
Please, God, let her believe me.
After a few tense seconds, she asked, “What were you going to apologize for?”
“For not trusting you enough not to let Thomas get inside my head,” I admitted. “I knew you’d never go back to him after what he’d done to you, but you…”
“What? Me, what?”
“You’re always so calm with all of this,” I told her. “I was going crazy with not having you every day. I was going crazy with not telling Leta. And I was definitely going insane when Thomas talked about getting you back.” I shook my head. “And there you were, all calm and shit, and I was worried that this wasn’t as serious for you as it was for me because I couldn’t understand how you could be so damn calm while I was losing my shit.”
“It’s because I’m older and wiser, Sayer,” she said, her voice like an experienced counselor.
One…two…three…
I grabbed her around the waist and hauled her to me. Her laughter filled my house, and I felt like I could finally breathe for the first time in three damn day.
“You’re a dick.”
She laughed louder. “I was just teasing,” she lied through her bouts of mirth. But her arms were around my neck, holding onto me, and that’s all that mattered.
My face was buried in her neck, and everything felt right with the world again. “I love you, Monroe,” I breathed against her skin. “I fucking love you, baby.”
She hugged me tighter. “I hope so,” she whispered into my chest.
I wasn’t going to make a big deal about her not saying it back. She was fighting demons I’d never understand. She had obstacles in her way that I didn’t.
I could wait.
Chapter 25
Monroe~
Iknew I should have said something, but the words got stuck in my throat.
It wasn’t that I didn’t love him, or that I didn’t believe him when he told me he loved me. I wanted them said when we were clear of emotional discord. Sure, I believed him about Daria, and he was honest about how doubt had led to our fight, but the timing still didn’t feel right.
His apologizing and my accepting his apology were still a far cry from ironing out our issues. And while we didn’t have many, I still needed to talk to Thomas and get him to stop with his nonsense. And until he did, Sayer was going to be possessive and combative. I knew this.
I stepped back from his embrace, and he didn’t look too happy about it, but we needed to talk. I walked over to his couch and sat down. When I padded the seat cushion next to me, Sayer complied and came and sat down next to me.
Once he was seated, I told him, “I told Leta we were dating.”
His blue eyes lit up. “You did?”
I nodded. “Yes, I did.” It was sweet how wide his smile got. “We talked some, and you were a part of that some we talked about.”
“How’d she take it?” His question was serious, but the smile on his face was still wide.
“She was a little upset that I had kept the news from her,” I admitted. “But then she said she hoped it all worked out.”
He looked positively giddy when he said, “I want to tell you ‘I told you so’ soooo badly.”
I laughed. “Yeah, well, she liked how you were fighting for us.”
Sayer snorted. “It’s not hard to figure out why.”
I smirked. “I guess she’s impressed by alphas.”
I yelped as he grabbed my hips and dropped me on his lap. “Areyouimpressed with alphas?” he asked, his voice deep and wicked.
